


claiming something new

by ShinjiShazaki



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Character Study, F/F, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Relationship, only because of a change to style
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:21:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29759556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinjiShazaki/pseuds/ShinjiShazaki
Summary: “Edelgard,” Byleth had said a month after returning to the fold, “could you help me with something?”“Of course, Professor.  What do you need?”Uncertainty in her eyes, the tiny hitch of her shoulders, Byleth held up a pair of scissors.(A small discussion on self over a haircut.)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	claiming something new

“Edelgard,” Byleth had said a month after returning to the fold, “could you help me with something?”

“Of course, Professor. What do you need?”

Uncertainty in her eyes, the tiny hitch of her shoulders, Byleth held up a pair of scissors. Surprise did not come to Edelgard; Byleth’s hair had grown noticeably unruly in the last month. She was always pushing it out of her face, tying it back in different ways to try to manage it. Still, there was hesitance in Edelgard’s hands when she took the scissors, and in her steps when she led Byleth out to the open space near the sauna.

“I must admit I am not well practiced in cutting hair,” Edelgard said. She waited for Byleth to sit on the tall stool she’d brought with them, gently combing her hair out with her fingers. It had grown past Byleth’s shoulders by a few inches, the strange green shade still seeming to glow in broad daylight. When Byleth looked at her, she touched her shoulder.

“I’m not well practiced,” said Edelgard, “but I’ll do my best. It shouldn’t be too hard, since it’s just a trim.”

“No,” Byleth said softly. “I want it short. A lot shorter.”

She looked at her with raised brows. She asked, “To what extent?”

Byleth thought, going silent and still. When her thinking went on for a long, long while, Edelgard could not help but laugh a moment.

“Perhaps as far as Caspar or Hubert?” she asked, tousling her hair.

“Please don’t cut my hair like Hubert’s.”

She laughed again. “Then maybe a bit like how Leonie’s hair was at the academy?”

“No,” Byleth said, looking down. “Because all I see when I think of her is—Dad. I don’t want to look like him. I don’t want to look like— _this_ —anymore.”

Her smile faded. She reached out, stopping shy of setting her hand on Byleth’s shoulder. She pushed past it to put her fingers on her shoulder, light and ever ready to draw back.

“If you would like to talk, my teacher, I’m more than happy to listen. And start to cut your hair, if you’d like.”

“Yes. Please.”

Edelgard nodded and went to work, starting with careful trimming to see how her hair cut. She took a bit of boldness from Byleth when she took a deep breath, inhaling along with her before making larger cuts.

“I don’t want people to look at me like I’m Dad,” Byleth said. “I’m not. I’m not the next Blade Breaker. Leonie can have that if she wants. But I don’t want to look like I did before. Like when I was the Ashen Demon. Or when I was…whatever Rhea wanted to turn me into.”

She paused to keep her hands from faltering, from making a poor cut. She put her fingers on Byleth’s back, pushing up and forward just enough to make her straighten up.

“My hair,” Byleth said, “is like…I think maybe it reminded Rhea of something. Or looked like something she just wanted to make. Something I’m just not. I don’t want to be like that. Not a demon, not a goddess come back to life. Not another version of my dad. Just me. Something normal. Not special.”

“Professor,” Edelgard murmured, “I want you to know that you _are_ special. To me, to the Eagles, and even to the people of Fódlan at large. Not because of this change you’ve gone through. Because you are a bastion of strength. You are some _one_ special, not some _thing_ special. And it has nothing to do with your history, your father, or whatever Rhea did to you.

“So,” she said, continuing to cut her hair, “I understand how you feel. I’m more than happy to help you create the image of yourself that makes _you_ happy.”

“Thank you, Edelgard.”

She nodded and focused on the task at hand. It proved daunting at times, Byleth’s hair as thick as she’d expected. A veritable pile of it gathered around the stool; Edelgard pushed it to one side or another with her feet. Every so often she had Byleth check the length of her hair, and each time Byleth asked for her to keep going. She puzzled out a method to thin her hair somewhat, sighing when it failed to tame its many flips and odd little curls.

It was not quite as short as Hubert’s or Caspar’s, in the end, left with a bit of length in the back that defied gravity in a fetching way. Byleth toyed with it for minutes on end, feeling how it settled when she pushed it this way or that. Edelgard watched her comb out the front of her hair as it had always been, then comb it off to one side. Byleth sighed as she reversed it all, sighing again when it simply did not work.

“Professor,” Edelgard said, “may I try something?”

“Okay.” She took the scissors when Edelgard held them out, looking at her expectantly.

Edelgard set her hands lightly on Byleth’s face and made her look up. She examined her face, how her hair was settling unevenly. For a moment, she started to part it to one side. The idea was abandoned, replaced by her combing Byleth’s hair back and away from her face entirely. It stayed back, defying gravity as the rest of her hair did. Edelgard fussed over it for a while, combing it back again and again to see how it settled. Eventually, she stepped back and held up the small mirror they’d brought.

“What do you think?” she asked. “I think it’s charming, to be honest.”

Byleth looked at herself in the mirror, studying it closely. She began to smile in that achingly earnest way she seemed to have discovered in her five year absence. She moved the mirror side to side, up and down, and turned her head to see it from as many angles as she could. At last she lowered the mirror, and at last Edelgard saw her smile just for her and what she’d done.

“Thank you, Edelgard,” Byleth said. “I _really_ like it.”

“It suits you quite well,” Edelgard chuckled. “I’m glad to have helped.”

Byleth nodded. As she stood up, Edelgard had to stifle the urge to play with her hair for just a little longer. The urge to kiss her softly was even harder to manage.

**Author's Note:**

> I hadn't put a lot of thought into Byleth getting her hair cut to be short, but then Quali ([theunqualified1](https://twitter.com/TheUnqualified1)) tossed a little prompt my way and it got stuck in my head all day yesterday. A lot of art pieces I see make me feel like Byleth--when her hair is as messy as it tends to be in the game--is caught between Jeralt and Sothis. So I ran with that and I like it.
> 
> Catch me [on twitter](https://twitter.com/shinjishazaki)!


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